Prison Fellowship, a prominent evangelical ministry to inmates, has laid off dozens of employees, citing the faltering economy.

A total of 72 staffers were let go as part of a restructuring that included new leaders as of July 18. Jim Liske, a former pastor in Michigan, began as CEO and Garland Hunt, a former Atlanta pastor, is now president.

"Like many nonprofits in the wake of this economy, Prison Fellowship has had to deal with shrinking resources and rising costs," said Frank Lofaro, executive vice president of the ministry.

The ministry was founded in 1976 by ex-convict and Nixon aide Chuck Colson.

Lofaro declined to disclose the current total number of Prison Fellowship staffers.
"Prison Fellowship is not focusing on its recent staff reductions but rather on the new season it is embarking on for the ministry," Lofaro said in a statement.

The ministry, which turns 35 this month (August), works with about 8,500 churches and 14,000 volunteers to support prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families.

Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at August 8, 2011 | Comments (0)

Photo from New Zealand gives new meaning to "the lease of these":

Posted by Mark Moring at March 30, 2010 | Comments (1)

Today's dispatch by Peggy Noonan, "There's No Pill for This Kind of Depression," captures the national mood better than most that I've seen. Here's a particularly interesting observation for CT readers:

"In Manhattan, Catholic church attendance appears to be up. Everyone seems to agree that this is so, though the archdiocese says it won't have numbers until next fall. But yes, said Joseph Zwilling, the director of communications, "from what I've heard anecdotally from various priests," the pews have been fuller. The rector at St Patrick's told him Ash Wednesday was "the busiest yet," with 60,000 people coming for ashes. At my local church at noon mass one day this week, there were 40 people when normally there are roughly a dozen, and the communion line stretched to the back of the church. Something is happening. Yesterday a friend sent the warning of the Evangelical pastor David Wilkerson, of Times Square Church, that a new catastrophe is imminent. This is causing a small sensation in evangelical circles."

Just in time for Friday the 13th, I guess.

Posted by Stan Guthrie at March 13, 2009 | Comments (1)

President Obama's budget calls for a decrease in the amount of tax savings that wealthy donors (those who earn more than $250,000 per year) can claim after giving to charity. The budget estimates the new rule would bring in about $318 billion over ten years. This means that those in the 33% or 35% tax brackets would only get to claim 28% of the donation as a tax brake.

But charities and their supporters in Congress don't much like the idea. "After objections from Democratic lawmakers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appeared to suggest at one point Wednesday that the administration was willing to consider dropping or modifying the proposal," reports The Wall Street Journal.

Charity Navigator says it sees a huge jump in donations in the days before January 1, as donors adjust their giving for tax purposes. The Indiana University Center on Philanthropy estimates the new rules would decrease giving by nearly $4 billion, at 2006 giving levels.

Churches and other religious groups, whose services aid the increasing numbers of needy and who are already doing more with less, are likely to increase their pressure on the White House as the budget debate draws on.

Posted by Rob Moll at March 6, 2009 | Comments (7)

Women are about to surpass men in their participation in the workforce. The New York Times reports that "a full 82 percent of the job losses [in this recession] have befallen men, who are heavily represented in distressed industries like manufacturing and construction." Women, on the other hand, are heavily represented in steadier sectors of the economy, such as health care and education.

As a result "women are now bearing the burden - or the opportunity, one could say - of being breadwinners," says Heather Boushey, a senior economist at the Center for American Progress. Just a year ago, some evangelicals were concerned about the two income trap, the need to have mom and dad in the workforce in order to make it in America. Now, families are lucky to have a second income at a time when the economy is losing half a million jobs per month. However, when the wife brings home the bacon, not only does the situation hurt a man's pride, but also challenges his theology, if as Paige Patterson says, a women's place is in the home.

A structural shift may be occurring that could keep women as breadwinners for much longer than the end of the recession. In the last two downturns, writes Justin Fox, the jobs the economy shed never came back. Instead, the new jobs created were in different sectors for people with different skills. It doesn't look as though many investment bankers will head back to Wall Street or construction workers will head back to the Sun Belt when the economy picks up again.

Having two incomes these days looks like less of a trap than desperately-needed insurance policy.

Posted by Rob Moll at February 17, 2009 | Comments (3)

The libertarian Cato Institute has been sponsoring an advertisement saying that "it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S." fix the economy. Among the hundreds of signers were professors from several Christian colleges, including: John Lunn from Hope College, Earl Grinols from Baylor University, Seth Norton of Wheaton College, Alex Tokarev from The King's College and a World magazine correspondent, and Douglas Walker of Regent University.

While the President has promised to restore science to it's rightful place (for some a jab at the evangelical influence on the previous administration), many economists are wondering whether science or faith is driving the economic theory behind the stimulus bill. As The Atlantic's Megan McArdle points out, "The evidence for this kind of stimulus working in this kind of situation basically rests on a single instance (World War II)--the other two times it was tried (Japan in the 1990s and America in the 1930s) the economy basically rolled along in the doldrums for the rest of the decade." The burden of proof she says is on supporters of the stimulus, otherwise, "We might as well move macroeconomic policy to the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives."

Update: Justin Fox, of Time magazine's Curious Capitalist blog, argues that the stimulus bill is an economist's version of Pascal's wager--"Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing." If the stimulus works, great. If not, we're only out $800 billion.

Posted by Rob Moll at February 9, 2009 | Comments (8)

Last week the Justice Department announced that drug company Eli Lilly had agreed to pay $1.42 billion to settle criminal and civil charges that it had illegally marketed its blockbuster antipsychotic drug Zyprexa. The case accused company sales reps of promoting the drug for conditions beyond its narrow FDA-approved use of treating schizophrenia and symptoms of bipolar disorder, and for populations (children and the elderly) for whom its known side effects are particularly risky. The New York Times report indicates that claims and evidence in the case were similar to a California state lawsuit which alleged that company studies of the drug circulated among its sales force were "Lilly's thinly veiled marketing of Zyprexa as an effective chemical restraint for demanding, vulnerable and needy patients."

While the settlement was the largest amount paid by a single defendant in the history of the US department of Justice, it is dwarfed by the $39 billion in sales Zyprexa has generated since its approval in 1996, and is less than half of its $3.5 billion in sales in the first nine months of 2008.

This most recent case adds to the already sordid backdrop to Marcia Angell's scathing indictment of drug companies and the physicians, medical schools, and professional organizations happy to collude with them published in the latest New York Review of Books. Angell, the Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School who served as editor-in-chief for the New England Journal of Medicine for two decades, believes these massive payouts are "just the cost of doing business" and "well worth it" for drug companies so long as the drug continues to rake in billions.

In Angell's telling, the particular offenses reported in the government Zyprexa case represent only a fraction of drug company improprieties, a discouraging litany she candidly rehearses. Yet without countenancing or minimizing their contributions to a corrupt system, she reserves her sharpest rebuke for her colluding peers.

It is easy to fault drug companies for this situation, and they certainly deserve a great deal of blame...Still, apologists might argue that the pharmaceutical industry is merely trying to do its primary job - further the interests of its investors - and sometimes it goes a little too far.

Physicians, medical schools, and professional organizations have no such excuse, since their only fiduciary responsibility is to patients. The mission of medical schools and teaching hospitals - and what justifies their tax-exempt status - is to educate the next generation of physicians, carry out scientifically important research, and care for the sickest members of society. It is not to enter into lucrative commercial alliances with the pharmaceutical industry.

Angell is concerned that unless the medical profession reasserts its independence by sharply breaking its improper financial dependence on the pharmaceutical industry, the integrity of its work will continue to decline, and with it, the trust of the public.

And no payout, however staggering, can buy that back.

Posted by Derek Keefe at January 21, 2009 | Comments (3)

The global economic troubles are an opportunity to emerge from the spiral of debt and me-first consumption, says the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. He complained to the BBC last week that such "moral questions" are not being considered as the government plans jump start the economy.

Rather than restart old habits of mass consumption, Williams said, "I'd like to think that in this sort of crisis, people would be reflecting more on how we develop a volunteer culture, where people are willing to put their services at the service of the needs of others so that there can be a more active and vital civil society."

But Prime Minister Gordon Brown is having none of the Archbishop's criticism. Brown is taking the argument to Williams's own turf by recalling the parable of the Good Samaritan. "Every time someone becomes unemployed or loses their home or a small business fails it is our duty to act, and we should not walk by on the other side when people are facing problems."

Posted by Rob Moll at December 22, 2008 | Comments (4)

In light of tightening financial times, and the heightened scrutiny of household spending that follows, some churches are making it easier for congregants to follow the money. Waterfront Community Church in Schaumburg, Illinois, gives 100% of its offerings each week to local households identified by a partnering Christian agency. This practice allows a church member, in pastor Jim Semradek's words, to "see a face on the other side that you're blessing."

How does the church take care of its own operating costs? Eight sponsors cover rent and salaries, freeing it to use all of its offering in this way. The model is an attempt to restore trust in local churches and return mission to the core of their identity. Its mission-minded sponsors believe freeing Waterfront from concerns about its own expenses does just that.

Waterfront is, of course, not alone among local churches experimenting with new budgetary models as it rethinks mission.

Posted by Derek Keefe at November 18, 2008 | Comments (4)

Updated: 10 October 2008

* * *
I was in a newspaper newsroom during the Crash of 1987. Twenty-one years later, I'm still in the news game and now we have the Crash of 2008.

The events of recent weeks are something that your grandchildren may ask you about in 20 years. In recent days, we have seen persistent comparisons to the 1930s. That sent me onto Internet search engines to find out what was going on in American Christianity during the 1930s and the Great Depression.

Here's a glimpse of interpretation, written in 1965:

The depression had a devastating effect on the Churches as well as on the nation. In the optimistic flush of the ?20's many congregations had built new edifices far too large and expensive. When the depression hit, they found themselves unable to pay. Most carried their huge debts; a few rejected their obligation, thus bringing shame on the Christian Church. Colleges and publishing houses, missionary enterprises, and the social work of the Churches were all hard hit by the depression. Many an institution of the Church lost its endowment in the financial crash and had to close or had to drastically cut back its activities.

But the physical effects of the depression were only part of its devastation. It left deep spiritual and mental wounds. It destroyed the utter self-confidence of the ?20's, and it gave birth to a despair and lack of confidence. What an opportunity for the Churches to interpret the meaning of this event! Yet, the Churches profited little in terms of growth. There was no surge of a repentant people to the Churches. There was no appreciable increase in the numbers of churches. There was no great revival which swept the nation.

This narrative was written by Jerald C. Brauer, the late theologian and divinity dean from the University of Chicago. (NYT: Obituary)

Dr. Brauer addresses the issue of the church during the Great Depression in Chapter 17 of his book (online version) Protestantism in America.

Dr. Brauer continues:

Perhaps that was good. The Churches did not lose members because of the catastrophe; neither did they make great gains. They did seem to grow in their depth of understanding the meaning of suffering and sacrifice in the Christian life. This was no time for an emotional outburst that would sweep millions into the Church. It was a time for sober reappraisal of the kind of message the Church had preached and of its relevance for modern life.

While the larger Protestant denominations were busy with their reappraisal and their ministering to the spiritual needs of the nation, there was one segment of Protestantism that profited greatly by the depression. This was the group of Churches usually called "sects." They stressed the radical, emotional conversion of the sinner and the new life lived in all holiness. They stressed the presence of the operation of God's Holy Spirit and the rebirth through him; thus, they were called Pentecostals. Some of them spoke with strange, unintelligible utterances, most practiced faith healing, and all advocated a rigorous moral life. Among these were such groups as the Nazarenes, the Assemblies of God, and the Holiness or Pentecostal Churches.

Another type of Christianity that had wide appeal at this time of dire national distress was the adventists. It believed in the immediate return of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as William Miller had in the 1840's. One of the most rapidly growing of such groups was that called Jehovah's Witnesses. Founded by Charles Taze Russell at the beginning of the century, it professed to be no Church and had no ministers. The leadership was later in the hands of " Judge" Rutherford, who, like Russell, turned out thousands of pamphlets and tracts.

Witnesses were to be found on every street corner passing out their paper, The Watchtower. Nobody is certain how many members they have, for they will never release figures. However, their message of the immediate coming of God's judgment met with great appeal in an age disillusioned with the disappointments of life. It gave many faith, courage, and hope. Their slogan, "Millions now living will never die," had great appeal. Even though life was very hard, it would soon be ended, the evil would be punished, and the saints would be blessed. They refused to fight in any wars or to salute any flags. Their only loyalty was to Christ, and for him alone they were prepared to fight. Because of this, they were always under suspicion in most communities. Nevertheless, they grew.

Though the Protestant Churches did not experience a large increase in membership, except for the extreme sectarian groups, they too went through a profound and invaluable experience as a result of the depression. For too long they had preached and taught a rather shallow message which was a watering down of the full insights of the gospel. No age perfectly comprehends God's message of judgment and redemption, but some ages become so smug in their interpretation of that message that they fail to stand under it. They often pick that side of it which justifies their own wellbeing and earthly possessions.

Though liberal theology and the social gospel contained many valuable elements necessary for their age, they also played into the hands of the age by their emphasis. People of the ?20's were convinced that Christianity meant literally following the Golden Rule -- doing to others as one would wish to be treated; that it stood for the gradual building of the Kingdom on earth by men of good will if only men would exert enough good will; and that through friendliness and kindness that Kingdom was slowly being built in America.

Suddenly the Protestant Churches were confronted with the stark reality of the failure of their dreams. Under all the supposed goodness and friendliness of the prosperous ?20's were to be found greed and pride. Man suddenly was shown to be no higher on the moral scale, no less selfish than his medieval brethren. In place of a new stage in the Kingdom of God men had arrived at a shattered economy. The consequence was a new look at some old Protestant doctrines that had been largely ignored -- sin, faith, and justification were once more relevant.

I've been fond of the saying, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." So after you say a prayer for your church and your portfolio, but sure to work for economic justice.

If you were alive during the Great Depression and have a faith story of survival to share, email me at the address below and I'll post edited versions on the CT blog of what I receive.

TMorgan@christianitytoday.com

Here's some additional perspective from Nazarene expert, David Felter:

There is one discrepancy in your article that I believe is worth clarifying. You cited the work of Jerald C. Brauer, the late theologian and divinity dean from the University of Chicago, and his acknowledgment of the growth surge of the Pentecostal churches immediately following this catastrophic event.

Unfortunately, Dr. Brauer was guilty of inaccurately labeling the Church of the Nazarene as a Pentecostal sect. While the Church of the Nazarene experienced solid growth through the period subsequent to the Great Depression and beyond, it is inaccurate to lump it in the same sectarian camp as the Pentecostal churches. Our history at first glance seems to parallel the history of many American Pentecostal churches in that they have their origins in the 1907 Azusa Street awakening in Californina, and the Church of the Nazarene experienced its amalgamating foundation in 1908, one year later. The antecedent roots, however, draw from differing streams in terms of theological emphasis. The Church of the Nazarene recognized the erosion of concern for the poor and the marginalized of society. Its founders determined to resist the pressures to create architectural monuments, and took the Good News to the streets and corners of the world where the Light of the Gospel had either dimmed or had never shined in the brilliance of reconciliation, hope and transformation. Arguably, these two traditions converged at the intersection of holiness and holy living; one emphasizing empowerment, tongues-speaking, and the flamboyance of unrestrained emotional connection with the God who is Wholly Other. The Church of the Nazarene, on the other hand, saw holiness as "perfect love." Such love would worship God without reservation and connect to others in a spirit of love, seeking the same good for them as they sought for themselves. Holiness would mark devotion, loyalty, and commitment; it would also mark compassion, mercy, and charity.

That these two trajectories are parallel and not identical is a mater of record. Additionally, the Church of the Nazarene prior to the Great Depression, for a brief period in its history subsequent to its founding as a denomination in 1908, had the term "Pentecostal" in its name. Because of the association with tongues-speaking and other aberrations, the denomination removed the term, becoming the Church of the Nazarene.

Finally, the Church of the Nazarene is clearly within the normative Christian tradition as a part of the Wesleyan-holiness trajectory. The Patristic Fathers influenced the theological insights of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and Phineas Breesee was originally an ordained Elder in the Methodist connection. Hence, the sectarian label does not apply either historically, theologically or ecclesially to the Church of the Nazarene.

Posted by Tim Morgan at October 8, 2008 | Comments (12)